Author 




Title 



Class 



LJ.i.£.35- 



Imprint 



Book* 



Vol. I. No, 2 joly^ 1904 



MILWAUKEE 

NORMAL SCHOOL 

BULLETIN 

Published Qtiarterly 

By the State Normal School 

Milwaukee, Wis. 



THE PLACE OF THE KINDERGARTEN IN THE 
WISCONSIN PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 




Mrs. Carl Schurz. 
A pupil of Froebel, and the first kindergartner in the 
United States, who in 1855 opened a kindergarten in her 
home in Watertown, Wis. 



Vol. I. No. 2 July. 1904 



Milwaukee Normal School 
Bulletin 



THE PLACE OF THE KINDERGARTEN IN THE 
WISCONSIN PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 



BY NINA C. VANDEWALKER. B. L. M. Pd. 

Diredor of Kindergarten Training Department, Milwaukee State Normal School. 

Formerly Teacher of Methods and Supervisor of Pradlice, 

Whitewater (Wis.) Normal School 



1 904 

BURDICK & ALLEN PRINTERS 

M I LWAU KEE 



Program for First Term, 

September J, 1904, to November 9, 1904. 






8:10-8:55. 

Physics 

Physiology 

Drawing 

Composition 

Literature 

History of Education 

Music 

Kindergarten Theory 

9 :oa— 9 :45 

Physics 

Prof 1 Geography 

Literature 

Psychology 

Botany 

U. S. History 

Reading and Language 

9:50—10:35. 

Social Science 

Prof'l Arithmetic 

Physiography 

Drawing 

Expression 

Zoology 

German 

Composition 

10:40 — II -.30. 

Political Economy 
Physiography 
Drawing 
Music 
Literature 
Composition 
Science of Education 
Biology- 
English History 
Psychology 
Music 
Latin 
Composition 

II :30 — 12:00. 
General Assembly 



1:30—2:15. 

Physiology 

Physiography 

Drawing 

Composition 

U. S. History 

Psychology 

Kindergarten Principles 

Music 

Prof'l Grammar 

2 :20— 3 :05. 

Physiography 

Penmanship 

Expression 

Composition 

Psychology 

Nature Study 

German 

3 :io — 4:00. 

Trigonometry 

Kindergarten Technics 

Pedagogy 

Literature 

U. S. History 

History of Education 




Wm. N. Hailman, President of the 
Milwaukee German-English Academy 
from 1874-1878, whose enthusiasm 
for the kindergarten did much to pro- 
mote the cause in Wisconsin. 




Elizabeth Palmer Pea body, of 
Boston, Mass., generally recognized 
as the apostle of the kindergarten 
movement in the United States. 




Sarah Stewart, principal of the 
Milwaukee City Normal School from 
1873-80, and later the first public 
school kindergartner and kindergar- 
ten supervisor in Milwaukee. 



The Place of the Kindergarten in the Wisconsin Public 
School System. 

I. 

The kindergarten movement is one of the most significant movements 
in American education. In the forty-nine years that have passed since the 
first kindergarten was opened in the United States, its vahie has been so 
demonstrated that not less than two thousand private and charitable 
kindergartens have been established, and more than twenty-five hundred 
are maintained at public expense as organic parts of the school system. 
At a most conservative estimate there are, therefore, between four thou- 
sand and five thousand kindergartens in the United States, and not less 
than a quarter of a million children enrolled in them. To provide the 
eight thousand or more kindergartners needed, over one hundred private 
training schools have been established, and between thirty and forty 
state normal schools have established departments for the training of 
kindergartners at public expense. 

The rapid spread of the kindergarten is due to several causes. Up 
to the time that the kindergarten began to attract attention — in the early 
seventies — educational effort had been occupied mainly with the problem 
of organization. There was, however, no satisfactory theoretical basis for 
educational procedure, and Froebel's conception of man as creative, and 
education as a process of self-expression, met a recognized need. The 
exponents of the kindergarten proclaimed a new educational gospel — that 
of activity instead of repression, and of the child's right to himself and to 
happiness during the educational process. They emphasized the import- 
ance of early childhood, and set a standard for the teacher — that of the 
ideal mother. They recognized the value of beauty as a factor in the 
child's development, and by means of music, plants and pictures in the 
kindergarten they revealed the barrenness of the old time schoolroom. 
By their intense moral earnestness, their sympathetic interpretation of 
childhood, their exaltation of motherhood, and their enthusiasm for hu- 
manity, they carried conviction to the educational world. The kinder- 
garten won its way to the hearts of the people, and its principles were 
seen to underlie the whole educational process. It has become the symbol 
of the spirit and method of the new education. 

In the advancement of the kindergarten in the United States, Wis- 
consin has played an important part. The first kindergarten in this 
country was that conducted by Mrs. Carl Schurz, in her own home in 
Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1855. It was Mrs. Schurz, herself a pupil of 
Froebel, who gave the kindergarten impulse to Miss Elizabeth Peabody, 



/ 



generally recognized as the apostle of the movement in the United States. 
The first large city in the country to follow the lead of St. Louis in in- 
corporating the kindergarten into the public school system was Milwaukee, 
in which kindergartens were established in 1882. The first normal school 
to establish a kindergarten for the purposes of observation was the normal 
school at Oshkosh. Wisconsin now has kindergartens in six of its 
seven normal schools, and it is conspicuous among the states that train 
kindergartners at public expense. 

In the public schools of Wisconsin, too, the kindergarten has gained 
a firm foothold, over eighty cities and towns having adopted it as a part 
of the school system. In the two hundred twenty, or more, public kinder- 
gartens established in these cities, there are over fifteen thousand children 
enrolled. To all appearances this is an admirable showing, but in view 
of the conditions that exist in Wisconsin the number of kindergartens 
in the state should be multiplied many times. The legal school age is four 
years — one or two years lower than that in most states, New Jersey and 
Oregon being the only others in which the age is four. A school age 
of four years makes tlie kindergarten a necessity, and kindergartens should 
exist in consequence wherever there are graded schools. The natural 
kindergarten age is from four to six years, and the work of the kinder- 
garten is adapted to the needs of children of that age. The customary 
grade work, on the contrary, was originally planned for children of five 
or six, and the four year old child is incapable of doing it, as every pri- 
mary teacher knows. Where kindergartens are established, this early 
school age is a distinct gain ; where regular grade work is attempted the 
time is practically wasted. But since children have the right to attend 
school at the age of four, kindergartens or no kindergartens, the school 
authorities must do something. This something is usually one of two 
things : Either the children are refused admission — illegally — until they 
reach the age of five ; or a "sub-primary" department is organized, in 
which a diluted form of grade work is attempted, interspersed with busy 
work, much of which is profitless because it is not the expression of 
thought. But it is only as the work of the so-called sub-primary ap- 
proaches the kindergarten type that it has either interest or value for 
four-year-old children. Why not, then, have a full-fledged kindergarten 
instead of a weak infusion of one? Every sub-primary department is evi- 
dence of the need of a kindergarten. Supt. Maxwell, of New York City, 
says : "Educators are agreed that the proper school for children under 
six years of age is the kindergarten. Children under six have no part 
or lot in the work of the grades." Dr. Wm. T. Harris says : "The 
kindergarten should take the children at the age of four, and retain them 
two years. The kindergarten is the most essential adjunct now required 
to perfect our system of city schools." Other educators without number 
could be quoted to the same effect. 

The arguments advanced for the adoption of kindergartens in states 



where the school age is five or six years can be reduced mainly to two, 
viz. : that children who enter the kindergarten at the age of four thereby 
gain one or two years in school attendance, which counts for much with 
the great number who leave school early; and that the character and 
practical efficiency resulting from kindergarten attendance will facilitate 
the work required in the grades. The truth of these arguments is gen- 
erally admitted ; the difficulty lies in the necessity for changing the legal 
school age, and appropriating school funds for the education of four year 
old children. Neither of these objections can be urged against the adop- 
tion of kindergartens in Wisconsin, since the four year old children are 
-already in school, theoretically at least, and money is already appropriated 
for their education. The questions are, therefore : Shall the four year 
old children be illegally refused school privileges because they are in- 
capable of doing the customary grade work? Or, shall their instruction 
be of the school or of the kindergarten type? It is not a question of 
establishing kindergartens, but rather one of substituting the kindergarten 
form of education for the grade form, since the sub-primary must exist 
if the kindergarten does not. The cities that have made the substitution 
could not be induced to return to the old regime, realizing that thq 
kindergarten does more effectively than the sub-primary can the following 
things : 

It develops and strengthens the child's imperfectly developed body 
through the varied activity furnished by the games and rhythmic 
exercises'. It furnishes adequate training for the hand and eye through 
its many forms of manual activity, and therefore lays the foundation for 
the manual training and art work of the grades. 

It wakes the child up intellectually. Through the games, the con- 
stant contact with objects, and the association with plant and animal life, 
his powers of attention, discrimination, and association are trained, and 
he develops the interests and gains the stock of mental images the grade 
work requires. 

It places stress upon the development of the child's character. The 
keynote of the kindergarten is co-operative activity. By working and 
playing with his equals the child comes to recognize that if all are to be 
happy, each one must be kind, fair and truthful. This leads to the funda- 
mental virtue, self-control. By the emphasis placed on individual, cre- 
ative effort, self-reliance and practical efficiency are developed. It is in 
the development of these qualities of character that the value of the 
kindergarten lies as a preparation for grade work, rather than in the fact 
that kindergarten trained children learn to read or write more quickly 
than do others — a claim often made, but not fully proved. The kinder- 
garten stands for a principle in education — that of awakening an all-sided 
interest and developing an all-sided efficiency. To the degree that this 
principle is being recognized in the grades, as is shown in the introduction 
of manual training and kindred forms of work, are the ideals of the 



kindergarten and of the grade work approaching each other. In conse- 
quence there will hereafter be less measuring of the results of the kinder- 
garten in the exact terms of reading and writing, or other forms of grade 
work. If, however, there is no preceptible difference in favor of the 
kindergarten child in awakened interest and increased efficiency, 
the work both of the individual kindergartner and of the primary teacher 
needs investigating. Harm is sometimes done by continuing children in 
the kindergarten too long. The needs and interests which the kinder- 
garten is intended to ineet have in a measure passed away at the age 
of six, and under normal conditions children of that age should begin 
grade work, even though they have not been in the kindergarten. In 
the adjustment between the work of the kindergarten and that of the 
grades lie some of the problems of modern day education. 

In many cities it is the custom to pay grammar and high school- 
teachers better salaries than are paid the teachers of the younger children. 
But the better paid high school-teacher will tell you that she cannot do 
the work the high school calls for because she must spend her time teach- 
ing what the pupils should have learned in the grades below. And the teacher 
in the grammar grades — what does she say? Too often she is not only 
teaching the fundamentals that it is the business of the lower grades to 
teach, but she is undoing the work that was done there and correcting 
habits that should never have been formed. Where there are no kinder- 
gartens the first grade teacher must spend many months doing for tlie 
children what should have been done in the kindergarten. Is it not time 
for school authorities to see that true economy consists in giving children 
the right start? The establishing of kindergartens under proper condi- 
tions will be an important step in this direction. 

There are many cities in the state where the desirability of opening 
kindergartens or substituting them for sub-primary departments has been 
recognized, but where action has been postponed because of other pressing 
needs. In other instances the idea that the kindergarten is too expensive 
for the average town has prevented action. It is true that the opening of 
a new department, whatever its character, involves additional expense, 
though the furnishing of a kindergarten room with tables and chairs 
costs much less than the furnishing of desks for a primary department. 
The running expenses of a kindergarten, too, are but little, if any, greater 
than those of a primary department. Kindergartners have high educa- 
tional ideals, however, and many would refuse to undertake work under 
the conditions that exist in many primary departments. The better the 
primary teacher the better she knows that good grade work cannot be 
done with the number of pupils usually assigned her — sixty or seventy — 
if not more. But if good grade work is difficult, kindergarten work with 
so large a number is impossible, unless the children are divided into two 
sections, each attending but a half day. Even then good work could not 
be done without an assistant. This brings up a whole series of practical 



considerations— the reasons for the smaller number of children that the 
kindergartner insists upon; for employing an assistant, and for limiting 
the attendance of kindergarten children to one session a day. 

The reason why the number of children assigned to one kindergarten 
should not exceed thirty is found in part in the greater amount of attention 
of the nursery maid order that children of kindergarten age require, but 
more fundamentally in the manual character of kindergarten work. This 
cannot be done en masse, even with older children, and much less with 
those who lack wholly as yet the power of attention, co-operation and 
self-control. An assistant is required, not because the kindergartner is 
less competent or willing to work than is her neighbor in the primary 
department, but because the purposes of the kindergarten can be but 
partially realized without music. The work of the kindergarten would 
be Hamlet with Hamlet left out, without its songs, games and rhythms 
and their musical accompaniment, and no matter how expert a kinder- 
gartner may be, she cannot properly lead the games or rhythms and act 
as accompanist at the same time. While one kindergartner could, there- 
fore take sixty children by taking one-half of them each session, the best 
results cannot be obtained in this manner, and the attempt to force the 
kindergarten into the school form and conditions would defeat the purposes 
for which it was established. The fact that a thorough musical training, 
as well as a course in kindergarten training, is essential to successful 
kindergarten work, should receive practical recognition in the salary paid. 
That children of kindergarten age should attend school or kinder- 
garten for but one session of from two and a half to three hours was 
taken for granted in the early days of the kindergarten movement, and 
all medical authorities are agreed upon the correctness of this position. 
The kindergarten has always stood for a union between the home and 
the school, and the true kindergartner considers her work but partially 
done when she has dismissed her children for the day. To do her best 
with them she must spend much time in preparing the work for the next 
session. She must also visit the children in their homes and secure the 
co-operation of their mothers. That she should give her mornings to 
the children, and her afternoons to the larger work of home visitation 
and mother's meetings is the kindergarten ideal, and the kindergartner 
who does this larger work thereby doubles her power with the children. 
In recent years this larger social work has been somewhat lost sight of, 
and with the introduction of the kindergarten into the public schools has 
come the demand that kindergartners should "work all day," as primary 
teachers do. This has brought about the two-session kindergarten, i.e., 
the division of the children into two groups, each attending but one session,' 
which has become quite general in the larger cities. While the effective- 
ness and power of the kindergartners work are impaired by these condi- 
tions, this is partly compensated for by the additional number of children 



8 

that can receive kindergarten advantages. In the fact that the conditions 
required for good kindergarten work are so far superior to the condi- 
tions existing in most primary departments lies the difificuh}' in substituting 
kindergartens for the prevailing forms of primary work. 

A knowledge of the expense of equipping a kindergarten may be of 
interest to those who are contemplating the suggested change. With 
thirty children enrolled for each session, three dozen chairs and four 
tf.bles, 6 X 2J/2 feet, will be needed. The price of these chairs is about 
$6.00 per dozen, but they can sometimes be obtained at lower rates through 
a local furniture dealer. The tables are of special make, ruled in squares, 
and should be obtained from a regular dealer in kindergarten supplies. 
They cost about $6.00 each. If the thirty children must all work with 
one person during the periods for manual work, as is the case if there is 
no assistant, the number of articles to be used by individual children, 
such as scissors, pencils, boxes of gifts, etc., must be equal to the number 
enrolled at one session. If there is an assistant, the number of children 
will be divided into two groups for each work period, and hence a smaller 
number of articles will answer. Much of the material, such as balls, 
peg-boards, the gifts, etc., is permanent, and needs to be purchased but 
once. Many things that can be obtained at slight expense can be sub- 
stituted for some of the more expensive kindergarten material. Manilla 
and other paper, for mounting, folding and cutting, can be obtained at 
any printer's, cut to the desired size. Such material is less accurate, 
however, and the work done with it is, therefore, of less value. The 
ingenious kindergartner will find many uses for spool boxes and ribbon 
paper, which any dry goods merchant will be willing to save for her. 
Much nature material, such as corn, seeds of different kinds, corn husks, 
and leaves can be used also. Shoe strings are excellent for stringing 
beads, and the wooden or paper trays used by grocers are convenient for 
distributing material. Drawing paper and pencils, clay for modeling, 
scissors for cutting, charcoal and wax pencils, water colors and paste are 
probably provided for the manual and art work of the grades, and the 
additional supply needed for the kindergarten can be obtained at relatively 
little additional expense. A sand table and window boxes can be made by 
a local carpenter, or by the high school manual training students. In ad- 
dition to these a certain amount of strictly kindergarten material is 
needed — the amount depending somewhat upon the ingenuity and ideas 
of the individual kindergartner. Excluding the cost of tables, chairs, and 
a musical instrument, the first equipment can be obtained for from $50.00 
to $60.00, though an additional $25.00 will secure a more satisfactory one. 
After the first year the expense for material need not exceed from $20.00 
to $30.00. Milwaukee appropriates $25.00 per year for each kindergarten, 
and this secures a very liberal supply. Other' cities consider a smaller 
sum sufficient. 



The strictly kindergarten material needed for a kindergarten of thirty 

children, where there is no assistant, is as follows : 

5 first gifts in boxes, $i.oo each $S.oo 

I set second gifts, in bulk, twelve of each form 3.50 

30 third gifts in boxes, 20 cents each 6.00 

30 fourth gifts in boxes, 20 cents each 6.00 

The fifth gift may be omitted the first year. 

2;000 Hailman beads, spheres, cubes, cylinders $4.00 

300 square tablets 1.80 

300 circular tablets 1.80 

2,000 i", and 2,coo 2" sticks, uncolored 50 

2,000 i", and 2,000 2" colored sticks 50 

30 peg-boards 5.00 

Sewing and weaving material 5.00 

This allows from $10.00 to $20.00 for the material to be purchased of 

local dealers already mentioned. It does not include the necessary song 

and story books, however, some of which should be in every school library. 

The song books having the largest use among kindergartners are probably 

the following ones, any of which can be obtained of the standard dealers 

in kindergarten supplies : 

Songs of the Child World, Gaynor $1.00 

Songs and Games for Little Ones, Walker and Jenks 1.65 

Songs for Little Children, Eleanor Smith, Parts I and II. . . . 1.25 each 

Song Stories, Hill i.oo 

Holiday Songs, Poulsson 2.00 

The leading story books for kindergarten use are : 

In the Child's World, Poulsson $2.00 

The Boston Collection of Kindergarten Stories 60 

Mother Stories, Lindsay i.oo 

Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks. Wiltse 75 

In Story Land, Harrison 1.25 

Cat-tails and Other Tales, Howliston i.oo 

The Story Hour, Wiggin i.oo 

These can also be obtained from the kindergarten dealers, and the 

following books on the theory of the kindergarten as well : 

A Study of Child Nature, Harrison $1.00 

Love and Law in Child Training, Poulsson I.OO 

Children's Rights, Wiggin i.oo 

Kindergarten Principles and Practice, Wiggin i.oo 

Froebel and Education by Self- Activity, Bowen i.oo 

Froebel's Educational Laws, Hughes 1.50 

The first four of these are of special interest to mothers. The last 

two are better adapted to teachers and school principals. The following 

pamphlets can be obtained at a few cents each, and they are therefore 

useful for campaign work: 



lO 

What the Kindergarten Does for the Children, Beebe, 2 cents. Kin- 
dergarten Magazine Company, Chicago. 

The Kindergarten as an Uplifting Social Influence, Richard Watson 
Gilder, New York, 5 cents. 

The Kindergarten as a Preparation for the Highest Civilization, Wm. 
T. Harris, 6 cents. Pub. School Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111. 

The standard magazines pertaining to the kindergarten are : 

The Kindergarten Magazine, Kindergarten Magazine Co., Chicago, $2. 

The Kindergarten Review, Milton Bradley Co., Springfield, Mass., $1. 

The writer will be glad to answer legitimate questions concerning 
the organization of kindergartens not answered by this pamphlet. 

II. 

It is because the public is demanding an acquaintance with kinder- 
garten principles on the part of primary teachers, and because the kinder- 
garten is the embodiment of the new educational philosophy, that kinder- 
gartens are being introduced into the normal schools of the country. It 
is not the main purpose of such kindergartens to meet the needs of the 
children who attend them, but rather to acquaint the students in such 
institutions with the form of kindergarten procedure, to familiarize them 
with its aims and methods, and to lead them to discover its underlying 
principles. Educational progress would be less tardy if all teachers at 
the present time had even the slight acquaintance with the kindergarten 
and related movements that can be gained from an occasional visit. But 
has not the future a right to expect more of its teachers? Should they 
not be able to further the progress of educational reform by intelligent 
appreciation and application of the principles involved? But how and 
when shall the needed insight be gained, if not during the normal training 
course. An acquaintance with the leading facts of educational history is 
demanded of the normal graduate. Is not a knowledge of current educa- 
tional movements quite as essential to professional intelligence? The or- 
ganization and spread of the kindergarten, with its effect in transforming 
educational theory and practice, is one of the great facts of modern edu- 
cational history. The normal school whose graduates know nothing of 
Herbartianism would at the present time be considered out of date in 
educational circles, but the influence of Froebel upon education has been 
infinitely more vital. What method of getting an acquaintance with the 
source of his influence can be compared with observation in a kinder- 
garten? The normal schools are realizing this, and the kindergarten is 
becoming a valuable agency for the study of psychology and pedagogy. 

But it is not for the sake of kindergarten progress alone that the 
student will be benefited by observation in a kindergarten. Success in 
teaching demands scholarship ; it also demands much more, a sympathetic 
acquaintance with the fundamental facts of child life. How shall this be 
gained? A study of children in the home is impracticable. Observation 
in the school has little value because of the necessary restraints of school 



II 

life, and that upon the playgrounds must of necessity be fragmentary. 
In the kindergarten there is sufficient freedom to make the observation 
worth while, and enough direction to make progress evident. Does the 
student wish to know the content of children's minds on entering the 
grades? He can learn it in the kindergarten. Does he wish to acquaint 
himself with the child's power of expression? The kindergarten furnishes 
the opportunitj'. Does he wish to study the imitative instinct? In the 
kindergarten he can see it in operation. Does he desire to test the child's 
power of co-ordination? The kindergarten games and rhythms present 
the occasion. These are but a few of the many aspects of child life with 
which the student should be familiar. If the course in psychology and 
pedagogy aims to give students a practical insight into the problems of 
current education, actual observation along these and similar lines must 
constitute a part of the course. 

It is in the normal school that the student must get his professional 
ideals, and in the building up of these ideals the kindergarten plays an 
important part. Principles and methods may be evolved by class room 
discussions, but the finer points in teaching — the spirit of the teacher, her 
attitude toward the children, the adoption of her method to the needs of 
the individual, her tact in meeting emergencies — these must be seen and 
felt. The kindergarten that is not characterized by spontaneity, natural- 
ness and free self-expression on the part of the children is not worthy of 
the name. The kindergartner must, therefore, be alive to the varying moods 
and interests of the children, and must know how to turn these into right 
channels. If the play of the children is genuine she must lose herself in 
the spirit of it, yet she must be alert and resourceful that the highest 
purposes of the activity may be realized. This involves a power of con- 
trol of a different kind from that usually found in the schoolroom. The 
young teacher is apt to be self-conscious and mechanical. One who has 
seen a first-class kindergartner at work cannot but have a new conception 
of what adaptation to children means and of what the spirit of the teacher 
should be. 

Since the kindergarten forms a necessary part of Wisconsin's public 
school system it is but natural that it should be recognized in its normal 
schools. Kindergartens have been established in six of these, as has been 
stated, and one will be added in the remaining school — that at Platteville, 
as soon as the new building now in contemplation is completed. With 
the kindergarten an organic part of the school system, the state must train 
kindergartners as well as grade teachers. A complete course of kinder- 
garten training is therefore provided in the Milwaukee Normal School, 
of which further mention is made later. It is not intended that the other 
five schools, Oshkosh, River Falls, Stevens Point, Whitewater and Su- 
perior, shall train kindergartners, since the demand for kindergartners 
can still be fairly met by the Milwaukee Normal School. The kinder- 
gartens in these schools have been established for the purposes above 



12 

described — to serve as schools of observation for students in the general 
course. While the method of utilizing the kindergarten differs in detail 
in the different schools, its general purpose is the same. Each kinder- 
gartner holds conferences of some sort with the students who observe, 
to acquaint them with the purposes of the different exercises, to familiarize 
them with the kindergarten material, especially that which can be used in 
the first grade, and to elucidate the principles embodied in its procedure. 
At Whitewater a course of reading in kindergarten and child-study litera- 
ture is given, a plan worthy of adoption in other schools. One of these 
kindergartners thus describes her work : 

"General observation is invited and no day goes by without visitors. 
Special work in the kindergarten is assigned to a few students each 
quarter. This is not designed for kindergarten training, but to give the 
young teachers an insight into the whole of education, from the kinder- 
garten to the eighth grade. Those are especially assigned who can play 
somewhat, and they all learn to interpret the children's songs, to play 
for their different rhythmic games, and to enter into all that is going on 
in the room at that particular period. The broader training for these 
young teachers consists in affording them opportunity for close contact with 
very young children, thus developing the sympathy and adaptability to 
conditions that form so large a part of a real teacher's power." 

The kindergartner who can see the significance of the kindergarten 
for general education and interpret it to normal students will play no 
small part in the progress of the kindergarten movement and in the 
advancement of education in general. 

The kindergarten training course of the Milwaukee Normal School 
has attracted considerable attention the past few years, because it differs 
in several important respects from most kindergarten training courses. 
The kindergartners of the country are divided into conservatives and pro- 
gressives, according to their attitude toward the founder of the kinder- 
garten. The conservatives hold that the kindergarten has little to gain 
from general educational thought, and that its progress depends upon the 
study of, and adherence to Froebel alone. Changes made in the kinder- 
garten material with a view to adapting it to modern thought, therefore 
endanger the efficiency of the institution. The progressives give Froebel 
credit, not for the conception of the kindergarten only, but for having given a 
new direction to all education. They hold, however, that the kindergarten 
as he conceived it must be modified and completed by the fuller light of 
modern thought, and that its instrumentalities — the songs, games, gifts 
and occupations are open to improvement with growing educational insight. 
The Milwaukee Normal School places itself unreservedly with those who 
adopt the latter view and interpret Froebel in the light of modern thought. 
It holds that the kindergarten in a public school system should not be a 
thing apart, but an organic part of that system. Kindergartners in train- 
ing for public school work should therefore be given an insight into the 



13 

whole educational progress from the kindergarten to the high school, and 
not a knowledge of the kindergarten only. If kindergartners are to work 
side by side with grade teachers they must equal the latter in scholarship 
and culture. A diploma from a four-year high school course is therefore 
required for entrance to the kindergarten course of the Milwaukee Normal 
School, and the course itself is equal in the quantity and quality of work 
required to any of the other courses offered. The contact with many 
teachers who are specialists in other than kindergarten lines, and with a 
large body of students taking other courses, keeps the kindergartner in 
■training from getting the idea, still too prevalent among kindergartners, 
that educational wisdom is found in Froebel and the kindergarten only. 
It is in its insistence upon adequate scholarship in all lines that bear upon 
kindergarten work; in its demand for an acquaintance with the general 
principles of education as fundamental to good work in the kindergarten 
proper ; in its interpretation of Froebel and the kindergarten in the light 
of modern psychology and child-study; and in its subordination of the 
technique of the kindergarten to a study of child nature, that the char- 
acteristic features of the course may be found, and it is to these features 
that the attention of educators is called. 

For the sake of kindergartners and others interested, into whose 
hands this pamphlet may fall, the following description of certain features 
of the course is given, taken from the catalogue. Those who may wish 
for information concerning other features can obtain it from the Annual 
Catalogue, which will be sent upon application. 

The course is as follows, the work being estimated on the basis of 
five recitations per week in each subject, each recitation period being fifty 
minutes in length. Four subjects at a time are allowed, except when 
students are engaged in practice teaching. Then two subjects constitute 
the required amount of work. 

JUNIOR YEAR. 

First Semester. Second Semester. 

Weeks Week« 

Music 10 Biology 20 

Drawing 20 Drawing 10 

Composition and Rhetoric 10 Psychology 10 

Kindergarten Theory 20 Kindergarten Theory 20 

Kindergarten Technics 20 Kindergarten Technics 20 

SENIOR YEAR. 

First Semester. Second Semester. 

Weeks Weeks 

Music 10 Expression 10 

Literature 20 Child Life in History 10 

Nature Study 10 Psychology 10 

Kindergarten Principles 20 Primary Methods 10 

Teaching 20 History of Education 10 

Kindergarten Principles 10 

Teaching 20 

The fundamental requisites of the good kindergartner are sympa- 
thetic insight into the nature of the child, and an adequate mastery of 
the kindergarten instrumentalities, such as games, songs, stories, gifts, 
and occupations. Kindergarten instruction therefore falls into two well- 



14 

marked lines, the purpose of the first being to give the needed insight 
into child-life, and that of the second to acquaint the student with the 
above named means for the child's development. The work along both 
lines is taken up during the Junior Year, the first being known as "Kinder- 
garten Theory," and the second as "Kindergarten Technics." The work 
in Kindergarten Theory is the correlating center of the whole Kinder- 
garten course, since an insight into child nature is the foundation of all 
work that is truly educative, and a knowledge of the technical part has 
no value without it. 

The work in Theory is carried on by means of observation of children 
in the kindergarten or home, by the reading of Froebel's Mother Plays 
and other child-study literature, by the discussion of reminiscences of 
the student's own childhood, and the summarizing of results arrived at. 
From it the students are led to discover for themselves the principles 
upon which kindergarten procedure is based. 

Among the topics taken up are the following: The periods in a 
child's development — infancy, early childhood, and later childhood; im- 
pulses and interests; the senses and their development; the nervous sys- 
tem of the growing child; imitation and its value in education; the for- 
mation of habits ; the dawn of reason ; the development of the moral 
sense ; methods of control ; play and its significance ; the social interest ; 
the constructive interest; the aesthetic interest; the nature interest; the 
gradual change from the play interest to the interest in doing and learn- 
ing as means to an end, and many others. 

With such an insight into child nature, the organized play of the 
kindergarten, taken up in the work in Kindergarten Technics, becomes 
readily intelligible. In the study of the kindergarten play material known 
as the "gifts," the child's nursery play with balls and blocks is first con- 
sidered, and students are led to see that such play might be made more 
educative by a modification of the customary toys. In this way Froebel's 
gifts are rediscovered, and the kindergarten method of using them is 
made clear. The "occupations" are taken up in a similar manner, the 
nursery use of clay, pencils, scissors, etc., being considered, and a study 
of the organized materials known as occupations — clay, paper, cardboard, 
etc. — following. Each is considered as a means of expression, hence 
the weaving, paper-folding, cutting, painting, are not taken up in the 
customary form of "schools of work," but always with reference to the 
group of ideas to be expressed by their means. Hence the gifts and 
related occupations are always taken up with reference to each other and 
to the program in which they are to be used. 

The manner of instruction in the above work is similar to that in 
the course of Kindergarten Theory. Students write original gift and 
occupation exercises showing how specified educational aims are to be 
realized, and carry them out with their fellow students as children. 
Discussion and criticism follows. The same general plan is carried out 
in the instruction in the kindergarten games. 

During the Senior Year the study of the kindergarten philosophy is 
continued in the course known as Kindergarten Principles. The purpose 
of this is to familiarize the students with the literature of the kinder- 



15 

garten and to obtain therefrom a body of principles for the guidance of 
educational procedure, not only in the kindergarten, but in the home and 
primary school as well. This work is closely related to the actual work 
done in the kindergarten, the procedure with the children being used to 
interpret the principles and vice versa. The origin and growth of the 
kindergarten movement are also studied in this class, and the whole is 
supplemented by ten weeks of work in primary methods. 

The most important part of the Senior work is the practice teaching. 
Students are assigned for periods of ten weeks, for the whole morning 
session. It is intended that students shall spend one quarter in one of the 
mission kindergartens, one in the normal kindergarten, and, whenever 
feasible, another in the public school kindergartens or the primary grades. 
The subject-matter taken up in the kindergartens in which practice teach- 
ing is done is outlined for the students in the form of printed "programs." 
These are furnished to the city kindergartners also, and used by many. 
In the general conference held each week by the director of the depart- 
ment these programs are discussed as to the adaptation of the subject- 
matter to the needs and comprehension of the children, and the purposes 
to be realized by their means. The conference, therefore, takes on the 
character of an experience meeting in part, the results of preceding work 
being discussed, or it becomes an occasion for instruction in the work 
that is to follow. 

The practice teaching is under the immediate supervision of the 
directors of the kindergarten in which the work is done. The students 
write weekly plans for the different exercises in the kindergarten program, 
and these are submitted to the directors for criticism or approval. The 
directors hold individual or group conferences whenever necessary for 
the discussion of these plans or for criticism upon the work done. 

One of the most valuable courses in the Kindergarten Department is 
that known as "Child Life in History." As far as known this is the only 
course of the kind given in the country. The underlying thought of this 
course is that the student needs a wider knowledge of child life than the 
study of the modern child affords. Hence the attempt is made to picture 
child life at representative stages in the development of the human race, 
for the purpose of showing what is fundamental and permanent in child 
life, and what is accidental and the result of environment. While the 
material for a knowledge of primitive child life is scattered and frag- 
mentary, a fair idea of this phase of the subject may be obtained from 
such books as "The Story of Ab," which gives a picture of child life during 
the Stone Age, "The Childhood of Ji Shib," which portrays the life of the 
Indian child, "Lolami, the Little Cliff Dweller," and others. The material 
for the knowledge of child life during historic periods and in other lands 
than our own is more readily obtained. The work has a practical as well 
as a theoretical value, since children of any age are interested in the story 
of other children's lives. 



i6 

The Milwaukee Normal School offers exceptional advantages for those 
who wish to prepare themselves for kindergarten work. Though the 
scholarship idea is emphasized throughout the course, it is not to the neg- 
lect of the work along purely kindergarten lines. The instruction given 
in the theoretical work of the kindergarten is up-to-date and thorough, 
the opportunities for the observation of kindergarten work are excellent, 
and the practice teaching required is of a high order. The mission kinder- 
gartens of the Milwaukee Mission Kindergarten Association are allied with 
the Normal School for purposes of observation and practice. There are 
four of these kindergartens supported by the Association in the poorer 
districts of the city. The number of children enrolled in each is from 
sixty to ninety. Since each of these kindergartens is a center for neighbor- 
hood work of the Social Settlement type, students have the opportunity of 
becoming familiar with the management of the children's clubs, mothers' 
meetings, day nurseries, and public playgrounds. Many of the students 
in other courses, as well as those in the kindergarten course, availed them- 
selves of these opportunities the past year, and received a practical initia- 
tion into current sociological problems, besides rendering needed and 
effective social service. Since a part of the required practice teaching is 
done in these kindergartens, the students become thoroughly familiar with 
the needs of children of different social grades and the best methods of 
meeting them. 

In addition to the above named advantages there are others equally 
important. The opportunities for the observation of, and instruction in, 
grade work are as adequate as those for observation along kindergarten 
lines. The student is thus led to see the relation between the kindergarten 
work and that of the primary school, and to see the development of the 
child as a continuous process. 



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